Category: Morty Gunty

Moments of Morty Gunty on PBS

PBS is running a series called Pioneers of Televison. It’s not necessarily about the first TV personalities, but performers who broke new ground in their own time. One of them is Carl Reiner, who had pitched a pilot called “Head of the Family,” featuring Morty Gunty originating the role of Buddy Sorel, later done by Morey Amsterdam in The Dick Van Dyke Show; who, frankly, I thought was too old for the part. It was fun to see a few moments of Morty Gunty on PBS tonight.

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If you take a look at this past post, you will see that Morty’s daughter Sheryl has added a comment. I’m very pleased that Sheryl found my Web site, and I hope she spotted her late father on TV this week.

Another Morty Gunty Writer Speaks

I was very fortunate a few months ago to have comedy writer Arnie Kogen, of TV and MAD Magazine fame, visit this blog and relieve my concern that I may have played a role in the demise of comedian Morty Gunty’s NY TV show for kids back in 1965. Gunty was the first comic who Kogen wrote for, and later the same was true for writer Alan Zweibel, best known for his stint on the original writing team of Saturday Night Live. He helped develop the characters Roseanne Roseannadanna and Emily Litella for the late Gilda Radner.

It all started when Alan Zweibel’s mother chatted up a comedian she saw open for Engelbert Humperdinck. Zweibel laughs at the thought of it. “She just went up and approached him, and said, ‘My son can write jokes.’ And pretty soon I was writing for $7 a gag for a comic named Morty Gunty.”

Alan Zweibel: The History of Me is a one-man show Zweibel has been performing at various venues throughout this year. Friday night he was in South Orange New Jersey, as featured in this newspaper article.

I’d like to embed a video excerpt of Zweibel doing The History of Me, but YouTube says it can’t be embedded. So instead here’s a picture of Zweibel you can click to take you to YouTube.

Alan Zweibel

When Arnie Kogen Went MAD

Here’s an interesting factoid about comedy writer Arnie Kogen, to whom I am eternally grateful. He went from selling typewriters to banging them — so to speak! This comes from a book I referred to previously, Completely MAD, A History of Mad the Comic Book and Magazine, by Maria Reidelbach.

For over thirty years Kogen has been one of Mad’s most consistent contributors of television, movie, and celebtiry satire, and for almost as long he has been one of the most active television comedy writers in the business. Kogen was selling typewriters on the Lower East Side when he was introduced to Gaines and Feldstein by Paul Krasser, who published The Realist in an office adjacent to Mad’s at 225 Lafayette. Kogen’s start at Mad led to writing for a number of prominent stand up comedians and performers, including Carol Burnett, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Ronald Reagan. He’s also received many awards for his television writing, including three Emmys.

The book is from 1991, so Kogen has now been a Mad contributor for over 45 years! In fact, he wrote the Spider-Man 3 parody in the latest issue. In addition to Ronald Reagan, the list of prominent stand up comics includes, of course, Morty Gunty.

Kogent Kogen

It was October, 1963, and several Mad staffers were sunning themselves on the sands of the Condado Beach Hotel in San Juan. Arnie Kogen emerged from a dip in the ocean and joined his colleagues.

“How’s the water?” asked Nick Meglin.
“It needs salt,” replied Kogen.

    From The MAD World of William M. Gaines, by Frank Jacobs

I first became aware of Arnie Kogen 40 years ago, around the same time I first saw Mark Evanier’s name in print. Arnie Kogen is a comedy writer with a long list of credits, not the least of which is being the father of Jay Kogen, also a noted writer of funny stuff.

MAD Magazine was my introduction to the humor of Arnie Kogen, whose TV resume includes The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and both of Bob Newhart’s sitcoms. (Oops! Let’s not forget Newhart as a cartoonist in Bob! Don’t know if Kogen wrote for that one.) Kogen also wrote for my late mother’s all-time favorite, The Carol Burnett Show, for which he was nominated, and won, a bunch of Emmys.

Mr. Kogen’s first TV writing job was for The Funny Company, a kid’s show in New York, hosted by Morty Gunty. My Morty Gunty story starts here.

I am indebted to you Arnie Kogen, for appearing out of nowhere to assure me that my letter of complaint to Morty was not the reason why he lost his show.

Morty was the first comic I ever wrote for. I did material for his act and then, in 1963, Morty asked me to write for his kiddie show called, “The Funny Company” It was my first TV writing gig. The show had a good run but then some kid wrote a letter — Doug, kidding! You were not the cause of Morty Gunty losing his TV show. The Funny Company had run its course. Morty was a terrific guy and would have understood your dilemma.

I know of course that it wasn’t my fault, but I had to tell the story from the perspective of how I had felt until I was grown up and had seen enough of life to know better. Mr. Kogen’s comments are here.

In an unbelievable coincidence worthy of Dickens, my twin sister Jean (who writes the Jeanie Beanie comments) dated a nephew of Arnie Kogen. On one occasion in the 1970’s, Kogen was visiting his sister when my sister was there. If only she’d known about the Morty Gunty connection! But it’s just as well, because I was a rabid MAD fan, and would have made a major pest of myself; so today, instead of being so nice to me, Mr. Kogen would be saying, “Oh God, no. Not him!”

Thank you, Arnie Kogen! Besides being one heck of a funny guy, you truly are a gentleman and a scholar. And thanks for helping Morty Gunty make The Funny Company funny!

Morty Gunty – 4

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After I inadvertently caused Morty Gunty to lose his show on WOR-TV, he returned to doing stand-up comedy, working the clubs in New York that were celebrated by Woody Allen in his 1984 movie, Broadway Danny Rose. Gunty appeared on The Mike Douglas Show and he landed a spot on “That Girl”, playing Marlo Thomas’ agent, Sandy Stone.

In 1969 Morty was on the United Cerebal Palsy Telethon, hosted by Dennis James. The telethon had an unforgettable theme song with the lyric, “Look at us we’re walking, look at us we’re talking…” The show originated from WOR-TV. Once again inside the studios he had once called home, Gunty got in a well-deserved knock at his former employer … and at me.

I was caught off guard when James introduced Gunty. It surprised me every bit as much as when Morty had read my letter on the air, at the end of the last installment of The Morty Gunty Show. This time, however, I didn’t have to call for my twin sister. She was sitting right next to me. “YOU GOT HIM FIRED!”, Jean shrieked when Morty Gunty walked on stage.

Dennis James asked Morty Gunty what he had been up to, and the first thing he said was, “Well, I used to have a kid’s show on TV here in New York, but I got fired because of some kid.” Boom! There it was. The thing I had wanted for five years. Confirmation. Obviously, today such an admission would be worded differently, to avoid giving the wrong impression. I wonder if Morty was hoping that the kid who got him fired was watching? By then I was 14 years old, and I had a keen appreciation for what losing his show must have done to Morty not only as an entertainer, but as a person.

But Morty didn’t linger on the bad news from the past. He told Dennis James that he was doing all right, getting work, and he proceeded to launch into his stand-up routine. I don’t remember much about it, as I was feeling rather stunned.

The next, and last, time I saw Morty Gunty was 15 years later, in Broadway Danny Rose. After appearing in the film, Morty was featured in a Parade Magazine article. I saved the issue, but unfortunately I can’t find it. I was close to 30 at that time, and I was tempted to contact Morty to introduce myself and apologize for what had happened 20 years in the past. But before I could act on that impulse, Morty Gunty was dead.

Morty Gunty, Steve Lawrence, Totie Field, Eydie Gorme
Morty Gunty with Steve Lawrence, Totie Fields, and Eydie Gorme

In 1996 Morty Gunty was made an honoree in Brooklyn’s Celebrity Path by BRIC/Brooklyn Information and Culture.

Born in Brooklyn in 1929, Gunty went to Midwood High School and to Brooklyn College, where he received a Master’s Degree in Speech. His position as a teacher in the New York City Public School system provided material for his career as a comedian. Starting locally in Brooklyn, he became a frequent entertainer at Ben Masik’s Town and Country Club, and later starred at the Copacabana and the Latin Quarter nightclubs. In 1952, he won Arthur Godfrey’s “Talent Scouts,” and went on to host his own TV show for children entitled “The Funny Company.” Gunty worked with many headliners, including Liza Minnelli, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme. He also devoted his time to United Cerebral Palsy of New York City.

Here’s to you, Morty Gunty! Sorry about what happened. I hope this makes up for it a little.